Elections Testing Sandbox for Nadya Hayasi

Welcome to the Ballotpedia test for editorial department applicants! This test is divided into three sections and is designed to gauge your ability in the following areas:

1. Simple research
2. Complex research
3. Copy editing

You must edit this page to complete this test. Once you are logged in to Ballotpedia, click "Tools" in the upper right corner of the page and then click "Edit" in the menu that appears below the site header.

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Simple research

Add your answers in this section below the appropriate question. Provide citations for your answers in the proper site format.

• Who won the San Francisco mayoral and board of supervisors elections held on November 3, 2015? How many votes did each of the winners receive?

Edwin M. Lee won the Mayor of San Francisco general election while Aaron Peskin won the Board of Supervisors District 3 general election in 2015. Lee, the incumbent, won with a total of 105,298 votes while Peskin won with 8,740 votes.

• Review this study of school board elections in America’s 1,000 largest school districts by student enrollment and answer the following five questions using its findings. How many school board incumbents ran for re-election in 2015? What percentage ran as part of a candidate slate? In what state did no incumbents win re-election? What percentage of school board incumbents who ran for re-election retained their seats in 2014? What about in 2015?

A total of 969 incumbents ran for re-election in 2015, with 3.10 percent of incumbents running as part of a candidate slate. The only state in which no incumbent won re-election was Nebraska. In 2014, 81.31 percent of incumbents won another term in their respective school boards, while 82.66 percent of incumbents did so in 2015.

Complex research

Add your answer in this section below the question. Provide citations for your answer in the proper site format.

• Jeffco Public Schools in Colorado held one of the most contentious and complicated school board elections in the United States in 2015. A general election was held at the same time as a recall election, which resulted in all five seats on the board being up for grabs. Briefly summarize the top issues and key individuals/organizations in the election. Provide some background of what took place prior to and during the election. Who won? Did the majority faction on the school board change as a result of the election, or did it stay in power?

Two seats on the Jeffco Public Schools Board of Education, in Colorado’s second-largest school district, were contested during the general election on November 3, 2015. The seats of District 3 incumbent Jill Fellman and District 4 incumbent Lesley Dalhkemper were on the ballot as neither incumbent filed to run for re-election. The District 3 race featured candidates Kim Johnson and Ali Lasell, while District 4 saw Tori Merritts and Amanda Stevens running for the seat. Along with the general election, a recall election was held at the same time for the three remaining board members: Julie Williams, Ken Witt, and John Newkirk. Brad Rupert for Williams’ seat, Matt Dhieux and Susan Harmon for Newkirk’s, and Regan Benson, Ron Mitchell and Paula Noonan for Witt’s. This is the first time in district history that the Jeffco Public Schools elected to replace its entire Board of Education through this combined election.

The recall petition was filed by Jeffco United for Action, a group of teachers, parents and students dissatisfied with the conservative board majority that was elected in 2013. They raised issues of taxpayer money wastage, charter school expansion, performance-based pay for teachers as well as overcrowding and the refusal to build new schools to alleviate this concern. Recall organizers accused Williams, Witt and Newkirk of holding secret meetings and engaging in wasteful spending, including paying new superintendent Daniel McMinimee more than his predecessor. The discontentment over the school board also precipitated into a student-led walk out when the board proposed revisions of the Advanced Placement United States history curriculum to promote patriotism and guard against educational materials that "encourage or condone civil disorder."

Voters decided to recall all 3 remaining board members and replace them with 3 new candidates. Brad Rupert replaced Williams, Susan Harmon took over Newkirk’s seat, and Ron Mitchell won Witt's seat. Rupert, Harmon and Mitchell ran together as a slate called “The Clean Slate,” along with Lasell and Stevens who also won their respective races. The majority faction on the school board was thus flipped to a progressive majority, all of whom pledged to work with all members of the Jeffco Public Schools community.

Copy editing

Edit the paragraphs below to correct all errors. Proofread the text as if the current date were January 1, 2016. In addition to simple typos, look for issues of style, bias, and fact.

In 2010, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office launched a sting operation to catch state legislators accepting cash payments from a fake lobbyist. Five lawmakers were caught accepting money illegally, however, the cases were dropped when Kathleen Kane became the new attorney general in 2013. Kane cited racial profiling and poor case management as reasons for halting the cases. In 2014, the cases were brought up again, and this time they were sent to the district attorney, Seth Williams, for further consideration. Eventually, five Democratic representatives from Pennsylvania faced charges of bribery and conflict of interest, including Ronald Waters, Harold James, Vanessa Lowery Brown, Louise Williams Bishop and Michelle Brownlee.

Former Rep. Ronald Waters, a Democratic congressman, resigned from his seat in the state House of Representatives on June 1, 2015. Waters pled guilty to accepting $8,750 in cash from a lobbyist in exchange for agreeing to grant political favors. Although the others pled guilty and made plea agreements, Reps. Vanessa Brown and Louise Bishop chose to fight the charges which were brought against them. Since all of the representatives who were targeted were African-American, Bishop’s attorney argued that the sting is an example of “racial targeting.” Waters, along with the others that accepted plea agreements, were sentenced to probation. Brownlee was forced to serve 18 months of probation, pay over $5000, and resign from office.